Dan Themba and I drove to Baltimore today. Baltimore is the largest city in Maryland and was founded as a tobacco and flour milling centre with a good harbour. it developed as colonial America's shipping centre, but in 1812 we, the British, bombarded it with ships. American soldiers resisted the attack and kept thier flag flying, an event which inspired a Maryland lawyer to write a poem called the 'Star Spangled Banner' which became the national anthem! Balt...

Arrived in DC on Sunday midday after an overnight journey from Nashville. We spent Saturday afternoon in Tennessee State Museum which was really interesting, lots of stuff about slavery and the civil war and loads of examples of old glory (the name of the USA flag) over the years - different designs and with various numbers of stars on it. The journey from Nashville takes you over the Appalachian Mountain range into Virginia which is lush and feels expensive...

Spent the day in Nashville. We got caught in a torrential rainstorm, so we sheltered in a doorway at the back of the library for about 20 minutes. It seemed to be slowing down so we thought we'd make a run for it but as soon as we stepped out it got worse, there was a river of water running down the hill and we were sliding down in our flip flops! then as suddenly as it had started it stopped. the clouds left and the sky was crystal clear and bright blue. So we g...

Broadway is the main street in nashville. It has a good vibe to it, all the buildings are red brick and lots have adverts for record stores and guitar shops painted on the sides. Most bars have live bands playing country and western, bluegrass and blues. we went to one called Robert's Western World and there was a band setting up, even though it was only about 4pm. The bar ran down the right and sold hot dogs and the walls were full of music memorabilia. One...

Checked out and hung around in the lounge area for hours. I was on the internet when dough boy came in and startd telling me about the guy in room 3 who apparantly hadn't been paying on time, and one day doughboy had had to put in $15 of his own money t get his boss off his back. He lost his house and everything in Katrina and his job is all he has - now his boss has told him to go home today and not come back because of this whole situation. So, in comes the guy...